REACH – the European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006) – hits another milestone on Dec, 1, 2010. Approximately 5,000 chemical substances that are either deemed as highly dangerous or that are produced in or imported into the EC in volumes of more than 1,000 tons per year, must be registered by the producers or importers.

Failure to register the substances by the Dec. 1 deadline will mean those substances can no longer be legally marketed in the EC. Flint Group completed registration of all substances that it imports and produces in volumes exceeding the 1,000 ton threshold at the end of September, well ahead of the deadline.

Many of the 5,000 substances that must be registered by Dec. 1, are still not approved, and this could lead to serious supply issues for those manufacturers who rely upon them for their products. The registration process is quite complex and each registration dossier runs to some 500 pages with fees costing upwards of €23,000 per substance for registration only, plus the expenses for tests and data acquisition to meet the requirements of the registration authority.

“We are quite confident that the ink manufacturing sector is well ahead of the requirements regarding registration, but the fact that so many substances are not yet covered must be of concern to all industrial sectors, including the printing industry,” said Erich Frank, head of technology management and regulatory affairs, Flint Group, Print Media Europe.

The Flint Group REACH team is now preparing the next step, leading up to June 1, 2013, when all substances in the volume range from 100 to 1,000 tons per year have to be registered.